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AJ reveals the top 100 architects on Twitter

Named architects and practice staff come out top in the AJ and Construction Network’s survey of architecture’s top Twitter users. Did you make the top 100?

The AJ and new media company the Construction Network (tCn) can reveal the hundred most influential UK architects on Twitter, in the first list of its kind.

The top-ranked Twitter users were nominated by their peers using the social media website and scored by Peerindex on their ‘authority, activity and audience’ in the first ever top 100 of architects in the Twittersphere (see bottom and attached).

Only a third of the list is taken up by company accounts, most of which simply broadcast sales messages. The rest are named architects and staff in their practices, many of whom rank highly on Peerindex because they ‘engage with people of influence’.

Architects are increasingly using Twitter to win work, according to Su Butcher, practice manager at East Anglian architects Barefoot & Gilles who helped to organise and promote the AJtCn100. She said: ‘Not only are referrals easier to get, but people know you better when you do meet.’

Butcher - who writes about architecture on justpractising.com and topped the league table, but is not counted in the final 100 as she is part of the AJtCn100 team - believes Twitter is a community that brings together consultants and suppliers, products and information.

She said: ‘Yesterday I helped Kirstie Allsopp look for a funder and suggested a speaker for the Greenbuild Expo. Be proactive and ask for help; others will recommend or willingly share in response to your question.’

Dave Cornett (@snowarchitects) has been tweeting for 18 months and has won several projects through Twitter, including a fee proposal for a hotel in Lichfield and a feasibility study for a £10 million student housing scheme in Liverpool. He said: ‘We’re a small practice and we don’t have £1,000 to spend on marketing like the large firms. From tweeting about what we do and linking to our website we have had contact out of the blue from potential clients.’

Mel Starrs, an associate with PRP who leads the top 100, claims her Twitter profile helped in her interview for her position at the practice. She said: ‘It may not have been the reason I was hired but the fact that PRP knew what I was doing with social media and that I was known to the industry helped.’

You can view the top 100 list below. The top ten users are profiled in tomorrow’s print issue of the Architects Journal, together with an article by Su Butcher and interviews with some of the influential tweeters.

The list is ranked by Peerindex, the UK company who are mapping authority on the social web using their Peerindex algorythm. If you’d like to know more you can read their Frequently Asked Questions , or if you have a specific question about the list and your Peerindex, we invite you to ask it here where members of the Peerindex team are available to answer your questions.

The AJ is planning a series of interactive workshops explaining the benefits of social media for architects in partnership with the Construction Network (tCn). For more information please email events@tcn.uk.com

tCn helps those connected to the UK built environment understand, embrace and utilise new media. They do this through their social media support services and a networking and information sharing website www.tcn.uk.com. All qualifying UK Architects can have a free listing on tCn by emailing their website address toinfo@tcn.uk.com.

Readers' comments
(7)

I'm delighted and somewhat surpised to have made it into the top 10 'most influential UK architects on Twitter'. I wouldn't claim to be an 'influential architect', merely someone who has embraced and been swallowed up by twitter and social media from a standing start just over two years ago.The business benefits have been enormous for our practice. We've gained work, given work, and made some great contacts and more than a few friends by using twitter.

I'd like to personally congratulate all those involved in this initiative. To the Architects Journal, Su Butcher, the tCn team and all those who nominated or were nominated. This is a small but significant step to promote the use of new media within UK Architecture and the UK Built Environment in general. I can promise it's just the beginning!

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